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Keeping track of localhost:3000, localhost:8080, and localhost:5173 across a multi-service project is a recipe for confusion. You paste the wrong URL into a browser tab, your teammates get mismatched environments, and your proxy config in each framework adds yet another moving part. This guide shows you how to assign clean, memorable domain names — http://frontend.localhost, http://api.localhost, and http://admin.localhost — to each of your local dev servers using Toolkit’s built-in reverse proxy. No port numbers, no browser extensions, and no sudo required.

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The Scenario

You’re working on a project with three services running simultaneously:
  • Next.js frontend — started via npm run dev, listens on a dynamic port
  • Node.js API — started via node server.js, listens on port 4000
  • Python docs server — started via python -m http.server 8000
Instead of juggling three different port numbers, you’ll expose each service on its own .localhost subdomain.

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Start Your Services with Clean Domains

1

Start the Next.js frontend

Use toolkit run to launch your frontend and register it under http://frontend.localhost automatically. Toolkit detects the port your dev server binds to and wires up the proxy route for you.
Toolkit spawns your process, watches for the listening port, and registers frontend as a proxy subdomain — all in one command.
2

Start the Node.js API

Launch your API server the same way. Use the name api to expose it at http://api.localhost.
3

Start the Python docs server

Start the Python HTTP server and register it under http://docs.localhost.
4

Verify all proxy routes

Confirm that all three services are registered and active by listing the current proxy routes:
You should see output similar to:
5

Open each service in your browser

Navigate directly to each service using its clean .localhost URL — no port number needed:All three URLs resolve to 127.0.0.1 natively in every modern browser, in full compliance with RFC 6761. No hosts file edits, no browser flags.

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Manual Registration

If you already have a server running on a specific port and want to register a proxy route without restarting it, use toolkit proxy add:
For example, to expose an existing server running on port 4000 at http://backend.localhost:
This is useful when you start services outside of Toolkit — for example, from inside an IDE terminal or via a Makefile target.

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Removing a Route

To deregister a proxy route when you’re done with a service, use toolkit proxy remove:
The subdomain is immediately released. The underlying process is not killed — only the proxy route is removed. Run toolkit proxy list to confirm the route is gone.

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WebSockets and HMR

All proxy routes created by Toolkit support WebSockets and Hot Module Replacement (HMR) automatically. Your Next.js or Vite dev server’s hot-reload functionality will work exactly as expected through the .localhost URL — no additional configuration needed in next.config.js, vite.config.ts, or anywhere else.

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Open the Dashboard Automatically on Login

Use toolkit autostart enable --mode browser_launch to have the Toolkit dashboard open automatically in your browser with all your proxy routes ready each time you log in. Combined with toolkit run for your services, your entire dev environment can come online at startup without any manual steps.